Marking ICT Day with lab gaps, girls` facilities

Absence of laboratories has been cited as the main challenge towards teaching subjects related to information and computer technology (ICT) in community ward secondary schools across the country.

Felister Lukumay, headmistress of Kipok girls secondary school in Monduli district, says that ICT is an important area of learning that needs to be taught in all secondary schools, but absence of labs in those schools is the biggest challenge.

“We have girls here who are interested in studying science but we have no labs to enable them understand key issues related to the subjects.

And this is the biggest challenge for students to understand issues related to ICT,” Lukumay said, in remarks to mark the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD), whose theme was “Women and Girls in ICT”.

WTISD is meant to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT) can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide. May 17, marks the anniversary of the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention and the creation of the International Telecommunication Union.

The school head underscored the importance of pursuing ICT studies for girls in the country, saying: “Understanding ICT is a very important aspect for girls, who for many years were denied access to education.”

“In my school we have no lab for science subjects; we’ve no science text books and only a limited number of teachers for science subjects. For some of our students who are in love with science we take them to the nearby boys’ school where they can use the lab,” she said.